Paw Fiction
by sarcasticSadism
Summary: One of the strangest hurricanes passed by my city and lasted an entire week before it went away. And right when it did, I found this group of cats just hanging out at the back of my apartment. Sure color mutation and fur dye were a normal thing where I'm from, but these beasts of burden were a lot more strange than that.
1. Rock You Like A

**Paw Fiction**

**Chapter One: Rock You Like A**

"Thanks for the ride, Yannai."

"No prob, Shy-shy, anytime!"

I rolled my eyes and got out of my friend's car. For the past few weeks I'd been taking the bus to my job interviews, and today wouldn't have changed if it weren't for my mother shoving over $300 in my hands to prepare for an upcoming hurricane. And prepare I did, with the driving help of my long-time friend-slash-chauffer, Yannai over here. I even had enough money left over to buy her some supplies too.

"Remind me again—why didn't you get your license?" Yannai asked, opening the trunk, revealing all the shit I bought.

"Simple: I like walking and taking the bus better; a lot more relaxing than driving and _having _to pay more attention going places than you have to," I answered, grabbing as much bags as I can carry. "Besides, how else am I going to get you out of your cave? You're more of a shut-in than I am and all I do in my life is draw and watch anime."

"It's so cute that you care."

"Not really. If anything I'm just using you to say that I have a personal chauffer to all my followers in my _super famous _blog."

Yannai rolled her eyes, knowing very well that my so-called blog isn't as famous as I claim, though I knew that too; I just liked fucking with her. She put down all the bags she was holding onto my floor. She looked around and heaved a deep sigh. "You seriously need to let me buy you some furniture. You just can't live with a futon and a table the rest of your life."

"I am perfectly capable of living off my sweet, sweet futon and my badass table. So go fuck yourself; I'm not letting you buy me shit."

"You should! You did just buy me supplies for the hurricane!" She shouted, walking outside after putting down another set of bags.

"I only bought you shit because I had the extra money and I might as well," I retorted, walking beside her back to her car.

Yannai let that last one go as she entered her car, seeing as we finished putting everything in my flat. She couldn't help me put them away, saying that she had to hurry back to her own apartment to study and put her own stuff away.

"Fine, _fine! _I see how it is. Leave me here all alone here with all the grunt work," I started to sniffle and wipe my eyes, trying to play it off like a dust particle got under my glasses and into my eyes. "Just leave your friend of over 8 years all high and dry…"

"Yup! Bye, Shyanne, I love you!" Yannai yelled, already half way backing up from the parking spot, only stopping to say goodbye.

"Alright, later," I said, waving her off.

XIII

It's been a whole week since I bought all this hurricane shit, and I'm glad my mom gave me all that money. This year, the hurricane seemed to hate my side of the world more so than prior years. It would toggle itself in between raining or excessive wind strictly for a certain day. One day it would just rain uncontrollably, the next, there would be nothing but loud and strong wind, and not to mention the chaos that is brought on days when the rain and wind were running amok at the same time. Today was a windy day.

So far, nothing went too wrong. No broken doors or windows, no signs or reports of people taking a joy ride in the storm either, and I certainly wasn't starving. I only ate cold food—sandwiches, mostly. Cereal, PBJ and the occasional cheese sandwich were my meals for the week, but I didn't mind at all; they were pretty delicious when there wasn't a hurricane, let alone when there is one. Food is food, and I could manage a few days without instant noodles or microwave pizza. The only thing I was a bit bummed about was the fact that it is now Saturday and not only did I miss my morning cartoons but I'm afraid that if this storm doesn't let up any time soon, I'm going to end up missing my anime, disappointingly.

I had just finished making my lunch when the radio on my counter started up and a reporter's voice came through the speakers. My prayers were answered! Since the storm's been letting up recently, the power line workers are finally able to turn the power back on. Hopefully they get enough done to get to my neck of the woods, which is likely since the apartment complex I live in is pretty close to a few schools and a hospital.

With these happy thoughts in mind, I turned off the radio and headed toward my room. With my excitement, I had finished my sandwich before I even entered the room, but that didn't matter. I felt rather artistic at the moment, so I sifted through all my art crap in the corner of my room until I found a good bit of clay, the whitest canvas I could find, a good box of paint and paint brushes, and my sketchbook and pencils. I didn't exactly know if I felt like sculpting, painting, or drawing at the moment so I just decided to take them all to the living room of the apartment and figure it out then.

By the time the light came on and everything started to whirr awake, it was about midnight, and about the time I had finished painting a clay project I had been working on for a few weeks. I grinned at the sudden illumination in the room and jumped up from the floor. I went around the room putting out the candles I had lit a few hours ago when I could no longer rely on the sun's rays going through the glass doors in the living room.

After putting all the candles away, I decided not to put all my art stuff away and just decided to bring my laptop to where I was to stream my shows. I couldn't afford cable just yet, so I only use my TV for video games and movies, and I just took my neighbor's wi-fi to stream from the channel's website. Though this doesn't necessarily mean I couldn't watch TV on my TV; my techy friend gave me these sets of wires a while back and taught me how to connect my laptop to my TV, but I try to use it as little as possible. Hey, connecting a dinosaur of a laptop to an equally as ancient TV is fucking complicated! My TV doesn't even have the red, yellow, and white wire outlets, so I had to get an extension router thing from ElectroShack to connect _that _to the TV and then from the thing to whatever I wanted to use—so even switching from my game counsel to my DVD/VCR player is a hassle in itself, let alone a fucking laptop. So, yeah, fuck that shit.

Once the site's stream finally loaded, I saw the first anime's opening just end. Right on time! Putting the speaker volume on max, I walked toward the kitchen and made myself a celebratory foam cup of shrimp instant noodles and a cup of apple juice. After my dinner was ready, I took everything to the living room and reclaimed my position on the floor surrounded by clay, paint and paper. I then commenced my enjoyment of cheap noodles, juice and anime.

XIII

By the time the last anime's credits were rolling, it was around 3 A.M. and I was tired. I yawned and stretched before getting up from the floor. Even though the floor was carpeted and I was sitting on a pillow, my butt and thighs were painfully numb. I sighed and looked around at the mess I created; might as well just clean up now before I head to bed. I picked up the garbage first before putting all the arts and crafts stuff away in my room. After that was done, I picked up my laptop and its charger and plugged it back in on my desk in my room. I then went to the closet and took out the vacuum cleaner and cleaned up all the crumbs and dried up clay bits from the carpet.

Just as I was about done with cleaning and was heading to bed, I started hearing a commotion outside—well, other than the wind knocking on every little thing. These sounds were much more animal-like and most definitely feline-oriented.

_What the hell is going on outside, _I wondered, peering through the glass doors. It was really dark but I managed to make out the shapes of the lake the complex was built around and the mass amount of trees around the place. It took me some time but I found a group of cats right beside the lake, trying to fight the wind and meowing at something in the water. Ducks? More cats? I couldn't tell from where I was, so I didn't know, but I _do _know that I couldn't leave them outside in all that wind.

I groaned at my sentimental animal-loving personality and slid open the door. I was almost knocked to the ground from the gust of wind that barged through the opening. I got my bearings and held on to the frame of the door, making an attempt to walk outside. I let go of the frame once I felt that I couldn't reach it anymore from behind me. I then ran to the metal fence separating the lake and my yard, holding on for dear life.

The wind made my hair and jacket whip painfully against my face and stomach, but I continued on, ignoring it. I walked along the metal fence until I found the latch to open the gate, and once I undid it, the gate door swung open and crashed on the other side of the fence. I gritted my teeth and continued on toward the group of cats. I couldn't see much of their details in the dark of the night, nor would I have cared to since having a good look at them was the least of my priorities at the moment.

I saw about five cats gathered around the shore of the lake, meowing and hissing toward the mass of water. I turned my head and tried to keep my hair from my face to look at what they were fussing over about and saw even _more _cats inside the water! Acting on pure instinct, I took my jacket off, scooped up the dry cats and ran back inside my apartment. I set them down on the floor before taking my jacket back and heading out again, closing the door behind me since I noticed that the cats weren't exactly happy for what I had just did.

I didn't really give myself any time to think rationally before tying my jacket to the fence and running into the cold water. Thankfully the cats were near the shore, so the deepest I had to wade through was at least up to my thighs, but that didn't stop the pain of being knocked down by a wave on occasion when trying to walk through the water.

I found the first two cats clinging to each other on a rock close to the edge. I trekked my way toward them and held them close to my chest. I got out of the lake and ran to my jacket and stuffed them inside one of the pockets. It was times like these when I thank myself for buying jackets and sweaters at least three sizes too big.

I ran back in the lake and found another cat trying to fight off a family of angry ducks. I swatted the fowl away and held the cat and looked for more. I saw two more a little ways off from where I was, being swept by the current in my general direction. I shuffled their way to intercept them and I managed to sweep up the first one when it came my way. But now since I had two cold, wet and anxious cats in one arm, it was pretty difficult to grab the third one, but I managed by squeezing the two enough for them not to move.

Now with three cats in my arms I carefully, but quickly, waded my way back to my jacket. I mentally sighed in relief when I saw that the first two cats stayed put. I put the other two cats in the other pocket and bundled up the entire jacket before putting in the last cat. I looked back at the lake in search of more cats and I didn't see any, so hopefully I had rescued them all and didn't miss any. I don't think I could handle the thought of finding a dead cat the following morning when I could have saved it.

With the wet bundle in my arms, I ran back inside my flat. The dry cats were running around and meowing and hissing madly. I didn't pay much attention to them and went straight toward my bedroom. I set the wet bundle of cats on my futon and ran to my bathroom to grab a towel. When I came back, the dry cats were with the wet ones on my bed. I sat down with them and picked up each wet cat and dried them one by one.

Even though I was close to passing out, I did notice how odd the cats looked. Two were thick and heavy, almost like a large puppy, and there were at least two blue-colored cats and a black and white one. Either these cats were mutated—which wouldn't be very surprising, since color mutations in animals were rather common nowadays—or they were dyed, which is also pretty common.

But at this point I just didn't care anymore. After drying the last cat, I went back into my bathroom, dropped the towel and jacket into the hamper, took a warm shower, changed, turn off the lights, and just drop dead on to my awaiting futon, not caring what the cats did or went. I'd deal with everything in the morning.


	2. Day One, Brand New Day

_Hello,_

_My name is Thirteen Thorns. I will be serving as a speaker and representative for Miss S.S. as she does not want to be victim to any of the readers' "death glares", as she quoted it. She also did not want me to say any of my previous statements, as she did not want to seem cowardly in front of any of you, whomever happens to be reading, which may be few._

_But anyway, this is a formal apology from S.S. She regrets being absent for a dramatically long period of time and she hopes that none of you have given up reading this, as it will be updating frequently. She just graduated, after all, so that'll mean more time on her hands. Unless she procrastinates, as she often does._

Paw Fiction: Day One, Brand New Day

I woke up feeling something gnawing at my arm. My eyes opened slowly, just enough to squint. I looked around the dim room until I found a small, white ball of hair on my arm. I groaned and swatted the fur ball off; my body was sore as it was saving these little assholes, I didn't need to be abused by them, too. The white cat came right back as fast as I swatted it away, and it went right for my arm almost at once. I groaned and shoved the man-eating animal over the edge of the bed. To protect myself, I buried my head and everything else that was exposed under my duvet. As I moved, I felt other cats around me. One was resting on my neck, two on either side of my waist, and another on my back. They were jostled a bit as I moved, but they immediately went back to sleep when I settled down. Though it was warm and a bit stuffy under the covers, it was comfortable and safe from the white demon.

Just as I was about to fall back asleep, I felt something jump on my head. I had an inkling of who it was, and I was certain as soon as it started hissing and biting the fabric around me. _I should have just let this little fucker drown, _I thought, digging my face deeper into my pillow as the cat started to march across my head. Then, much to my dismay, it stepped on the cat that was sleeping on my neck. It screeched and launched out from under the covers, leaving a myriad of cuts on my neck and face in its wake. I heard the two cats starting to fight, waking up the other cats around the room. I groaned and put my hands over my face. I didn't ask for this; I didn't want to deal with temperamental cats first thing in the morning.

I felt the cats fumbling all around the futon until they fell off the bed. I peeked over the edge and saw the white cat and a blond cat duke it out, while all the other cats surrounded them, either encouraging or trying to stop them. I've had enough of their drama by then and allowed them to continue as long as they would like, so I got up from my bed and dragged my sore body to the bathroom. I flipped the switch and the light and fan turned on and a wave of relief came over me as the noise from my room was overthrown by the rumbling of the fan. I took my time in the bathroom, not wanting to go back to my room any time soon. I used the toilet, washed my hands, took a quick shower, brushed my teeth, and even brushed my hair. But, soon enough, I ran out of things to do in the bathroom to delay my imminent departure. I sighed and opened the door a crack and peeked out. The cats were still fighting, but it seemed that others have joined in the brawl. They were either forced to participate, or perhaps they really wanted to fight. Whatever it may have been, the noise had risen exponentially.

Using their loud squeals and yelps as a cover, I turned off the light in the bathroom and sneaked out toward the door. Thankfully, I didn't close the door last night or else the creaking hinges would arouse the cats' attention. I smiled in triumph as I quickly closed the door to my room and turned to see the welcoming quiet of the kitchen. I went to the counter and took out a bowl and a spoon from the drawers and cupboards and poured myself some cereal. I picked up my bowl of cereal and walked around the kitchen counter to my small dining table. As I was about to put my bowl down, I noticed two cats on my chair facing each other as if they were having a conversation. After about a minute, they noticed me staring and promptly removed themselves from the chair, allowing me to sit.

I sat and ate my breakfast, thinking of what to do with about a dozen cats. Was I going to keep them all, or give them up in an adoption shelter? I hated those shelters, and I didn't mind the thought of taking care of ten cats, and my landlord, being an elderly woman with twenty-five-or-so cats and dogs of her own, is very lax on the rules for pets in the complex, "as long as they don't cause a ruckus and actually fit in your apartment." But there was the matter of money. I applied to three big positions before the whole hurricane fiasco started; I hoped I would get a call from either of them soon, before I have to resort to selling myself to the night. But before any of that could happen, I had quite some money saved up from my previous part-time jobs, and I had close family that had some pets of their own that can help me, especially my aunts who've had cats of their own and could lend me litter-boxes and feeders from their previous cats.

But the first order of business was to feed the little shits before I leave. Who knows how long they were outside in the storm yesterday? I got up from my chair and walked back into the kitchen area. I put my cereal bowl and spoon in the sink and opened the refrigerator. The question was, "What can cats eat?" They weren't exactly kittens, so human food wouldn't kill them if they ate some at least once, right? It was only to keep them relatively full for the day until I can get some proper cat food. Since I didn't eat meat, there wasn't much in the fridge that I could feed the cats; though, I did have some bologna and turkey slices for when Yanay would come over. Thinking back to my Physiology classes, I decided that turkey slices would do less harm than the bologna. I took the plastic package from the fridge shelf and took out about five paper plates from the cupboard. I laid the plates down on the counter and cut the turkey slices into chunks before putting a fair amount of chunks on each plate. After that was done, I put the plates down near the table for the cats to eat whenever they felt like to.

Almost immediately, the two cats from earlier came up to a plate and started eating. I observed them carefully, making sure they didn't drop dead. A few minutes had past and they were still eating and it didn't seem like they were getting sick; I nodded to my self in affirmation and walked back into the kitchen. I didn't want to go back into my room to face the catastrophe (hyuk) just yet, so I decided to make coffee to stall. I took out my small stove-top coffee maker and filled the bottom section with tap water. I then put in the filter and filled that with a few spoonfuls of ground coffee. I twisted the two metal halves of the coffee maker closed and placed it on one of the stove circles. I turned on the stove to medium heat and let the coffee brew until it was ready.

With nothing else to do, I opened the door to my room. Surprisingly, there wasn't a hoard of cats waiting to pounce on me for locking them up. I walked inside and saw the cats scattered throughout the room. It looked as if most of the other cats that weren't fighting gave up calming down the other few cats who were still fighting—well, I couldn't say they were fighting with as much vigor as they were earlier. The only cats that were still "fighting" were the first two; they were laying down in a corner next to each other and every once in a while kicked and bit at each other very torpidly. I sighed and shook my head before grabbing the white cat by the scruff of his neck, surprising it and the blond it was fighting. I figured the cat was cranky because it was hungry, so I carried it—far away from my body—and dropped it off in front of one of the paper plates. I noticed that the rest followed behind me and stationed themselves to other plates.

I gave myself a pat on the back for doing something right, then I went back into my room and got my laptop, a notepad and a pen, and set them up on the table. Before I turned the laptop on, I went around the counter and checked on the coffee. I lifted the lid and saw the small container full and the spout had finished spilling coffee. I moved the coffee maker from the circle and turned off the stove. I got my mug from the cupboard and took out whatever was left of milk from the fridge. I poured the last of the milk into my mug and poured the coffee along with it. I found a plastic spoon from a box and stirred the coffee together before putting it in the microwave, since it had cooled down when the milk had been added.

As I was waiting, I felt something claw at the back of my pant leg. I looked behind me and saw one of the cats looking up at me. This one was dark brown with orange spots on its face, and it's eyes were black, well, I thought they were, but the left eye seemed to have been closed shut. It looked up at me and meowed and rubbed its body against my leg, purring all the while. _This one's an attention seeker I see, _I thought to myself, amused by the small cat. I bent down and picked up the cat and held it comfortably in my arms for a while before it started to squirm and climb over my chest and around my neck and started to play with my hair. I laughed a bit at the cat's antics and put it down as soon as I heard the microwave finish.

Not wanting to contaminate my coffee with cat hair and whatever-the-hell-else got on them while outside, I washed my hands in the sink. I got my mug out of the microwave, a paper towel held between my fingers and the hot handle, and I opened a container of sweetener and poured about two spoonfuls of it into my coffee and stirred it with the plastic spoon. I threw the plastic spoon away, picked up my mug of coffee and walked back to my laptop, moving a few cats with my foot out of the way.

Before I would go on my trip to the pet store and my aunts' house, I needed to know about how to take care of the cats. I booted up the laptop and took a sip from my coffee. Just when the start screen came up, I noticed a familiar face creeping up behind the monitor. I smiled at its orange-speckled face and picked it up and put it on my lap. Snaking my arm around the cat, I moved my finger on the track pad and opened up my internet browser and went to the search engine. "How to take care of cats," I typed, having the cat in between my arms. As the results came up I couldn't click on any of them as the cat kept trying to press the keys. I swept its paws away from the keyboard. "No touching," I said, softly tapping its nose. It meowed in response and started to climb on my neck and played with my hair again.

Letting the cat play, I looked at the page that had loaded on the screen. There were thousands of pages of tips and steps for new pet owners, but I only clicked the first five-or-so links. I got my pen and notepad and took notes of everything I needed and what I needed to know and do. So far, the more I looked at each link, the more it dawned on me on how much much money I was going to have to spend on these balls of fur. After I finished writing on the tenth page of notes, I leaned back on my chair and took a few sips of my coffee while petting the orange-and-brown cat's back, thinking of how I was going to take care of them. I didn't want to separate them, since they seemed pretty close to one another. I wondered if they were a band of strays that decided to stick together? It seemed possible.

I counted every cat that I saw around me. Ten cats worth of money I was going to need in order to keep them taken care of properly. Well, actually, the money wouldn't be a _complete _problem if I could manage to shoplift some stuff, or get materials from my aunts, but I'm definitely going to need a job. Hopefully by the end of the week I'd get a call. I had some cash in stow for emergencies that I could use to buy whatever I could then.

First, I needed to call Yanay to babysit these beasts of burden while I was at the store. Hopefully she'd be able to get to my flat, despite the possible wreckage left by the hurricane. Speaking of hurricane, I leaned forward again to check the status of the outside and if any of the stores were already open since the storm past. Unfortunately, the buses were still out of commission and the nearest open pet store was a while away. It looked like I was going to have to hijack Yanay's car when she got to my place. My phone then rung at that moment. I looked at the caller ID and grinned. Speak of the devil.

I put the cat on my shoulder down on the floor as I answered my phone and stood up. "Hello, hello."

"Shyanne, I need to ask you something important," I heard her say, sounding grave.

"Yeah, what's up?" I asked, pacing over the cats in the living room.

"Can I move in with you?"

I stopped. "Move in?"

"Yeah," she paused to sigh. "The hurricane took out a chunk of the complex—no where near me; don't worry—and my landlord can't afford the repairs, so she has to close down the place."

"Wow," I muttered as I leaned against the wall. "Of course you can move in. I have an extra room and everything."

"Aw, man, I was hoping we'd share a bed," she said disappointingly.

I didn't give her a response. "Anyway, I had a favor to ask you."

"Oh, yeah? What is it?"

"I need you to babysit while I go shopping."

"Babysit?" she inquired, her voice increasing a pitch at the end. "You have kids?! WHEN?"

I sighed heavily. "Woman, calm your balls."

"May balls are perfectly calm; my tits, however, are flipping their shit."

"Then hold those grapes down and let me finish talking," I told her, starting to pace again. "I found about ten cats practically dying in that wind storm last night and I brought them in the flat. So, I decided that I should keep them."

"Aww..."

"Shut up," I stopped her. "So, I'm going to the pet store, and I can't leave these things alone in my apartment."

Yanay giggled. "Okay, Shy-Shy, I'll come right over."

"And bring your shit, too, just so you can get started on getting your shit together."

"Okay, I'll be there in about an hour."

"Alright," I hung up.

_An hour, huh? _I thought, walking back to my laptop. _I guess I'll just watch a movie to pass the time._

XIII

The movie I had decided to watch ended about twenty minutes before I heard Yanay knock on the door, so I had gotten off the spot on the living room floor where I was playing with some of the cats and opened the door. I saw Yanay standing there with her goofy smile, a seemingly heavy book bag and two duffel bags in each hand.

"Is that it?" I asked, taking her duffel bags and putting them down in the extra bedroom, which was at the other side of the flat from my room.

Following behind me, she replied, "Basically. I need to go back and get my mattress and frame, and my TV, and that's about it."

I nodded, straightening my back after dumping the duffel bags on the floor. I looked around the unused room. It wasn't very small, but it was smaller than my room, the master bedroom. It had a walk-in closet, which my room didn't even have any kind of closet, but I never did mind. Also, like my room, there was a single window, looking out to the lake. It was bright outside when I looked out the window and to the lake, and at that moment I saw something—well, it was fast and sudden, but I was sure I saw a bright red flash reflecting off the lake. But I couldn't dwell on it too much, as the sound of the door closing distracted me.

When I came out of Yanay's new room, I saw her coddling the blond cat from earlier. She noticed me trying to tip toe past her. "Shy-Shy! Did you name them yet?"

"I didn't even _clean_ them, and you're talking about naming them?" I retorted, patting my pockets, checking that I had my phone, wallet and apartment key. "By the by, the one you're holding right now was one of the ones that fell in the lake. I hope you like the smell of wet cat in your hair."

"For this little guy? I'll embrace it."

"Guy? How do you know it's a _guy_?"

"I lifted his tail," she paused. "You didn't even know their gender?"

I shook my head and shrugged. "I've been referring to them as 'it' all day. Don't fix it if it ain't broke."

Yanay and rolled her eyes. "There are nine boys and the small blue one is the only girl."

My eyes went wide. "How the fuck is she not pregnant?"

"They were fixed before you found them?" she shrugged.

"I hope so. I'll be barely handling ten cats as it is, let alone a litter of fucking rainbow kittens."

"Their hair isn't dyed?"

"No. Just before you came by I checked each of them. Their color goes right to the root."

"Well damn; that's pretty cool."

"I guess so," I replied halfheartedly. "Hey, Yanay, can I borrow your car?"

I saw her freeze. "Hell no!"

I glared at her, offended. "Why the fuck not?"

"You don't have a license!"

"That doesn't mean I can't drive!"

"But it _does _mean that you'd go to jail if you get pulled over, and my car would get towed, and then _I _would go to jail for _letting _ you use my car!"

"Yanay, none of that will happen," I tried to convince her.

"How do you know?"

"Have I _ever _steered you wrong?" I asked, getting angry.

"No...," she trailed off, looking nervous.

"THEN?!" I shouted, crossing my arms and started to glare.

There was an unsettling silence after my outburst. Yanay pouted and walked up to me and lifted her arms up for a hug. I didn't give her one, but that didn't stop her. I did, however, let my arms hang from my sides as she embraced me. After a few minutes, I had enough and just headed toward the door. I heard Yanay say she was "sorry" before I closed the door.

_Sorry for what? _I thought, whistling and twirling a purple keyring with my index finger.

XIII

"SHYANNE, GET BACK HERE!" I heard my best-est friend in the world screech behind me.

I laughed maniacally and watched her have a fit in the parking lot through her car's rear-view mirror. I was already exiting the complex gate when she gave up stomping the ground and gave me the Bird with both her hands. I laughed again and gave her my own bird with my free hand.

Yanay stared in pure anguish at her fleeting car. _I will eat your ears off when you come back, _she thought to herself before stomping back to the apartment.

When she entered the small home, she was greeted by a mess of cats. She didn't know exactly how her friend was going to take care of this many lives, but Yanay would be there for the utmost support, despite her friend's irritatingly unorthodox behavior.

Yanay thought about the situation a bit longer as she wandered around the living room. Shyanne was actually pretty lucky that Yanay was moving in, as much as that thought seemed a tad morbid. Taking care of ten cats alone with a distant friend's support is one thing, but if them two were readily available at the same place,well, that was the better option. The two had been planning to move in with each other regardless, but seeing as they were both notorious for their procrastination, they never got around to doing it.

Yanay stopped pacing and looked amongst the unique cats. She grinned at her blond target and whisked him in her arms, petting him affectionately. She noticed in her mindless pacing that Shyanne had left her laptop unlocked. Yanay looked down at her little friend as if to ask if it was a good idea before shrugging. She sat herself before the laptop, setting her cat down on the table, next to the tech while she adjusted herself. She rotated the chair so its side was against the table and got another chair for a footrest. She grabbed the blond cat, just as he was about to press his paws on the keyboard, and held him on her lap. She noticed that there was a movie left in the laptop and went to its menu and pressed play. Yanay looked down at the cat on her lap; he was trying to lift his head to watch the movie, but the edge of the table seemed to be in the way. Yanay smiled and moved the cat to her chest, so his head was just above the table. Seeing him settled down, Yanay stroked the cat's head and back mindlessly, watching the movie and waiting for her best friend to come back.

XIII

I looked at my phone to see the time. Two hours since I stole Yanay's car. Surely that was enough time for her to calm down, right? Right. But if that were the case, why was I curled up in a chair in the corner of a cafe, holding my third cup of coffee in a death grip? I probably looked mentally disturbed to anyone who happened to look my way. I sighed and released the crushed cup from my hands. I stood and threw away my mess I left on the table and ordered a final cup of coffee for the road. I had to get home sometime, after all, and if I were to die, I was going to die with the one thing I've ever truly loved in my hands.

I got in the car and started the engine. Through the rear-view mirror I saw all the crap that couldn't fit in the trunk piled on top of each other haphazardly in the backseat. Today was a good day for cat supply hunting. Since the stores were recovering from the hurricane and were understaffed, it was easy to get most of what I needed either under my jacket or for half the original price in all the confusion. Sure, it was underhanded, but you do what can when you have ten rambunctious cats waiting in a small apartment. Another plus was when I went to visit my cat-owning aunts. Of course I also visited to check if they were okay—I'm not heartless. I just casually mentioned what had happened the previous night and they were more than happy to donate what they didn't need or whatever they had of extra. So far, the day was a good one, that is, until I got home.

XIII

The taller girl stared me down at the threshold of the apartment. I had my hands full with bags of cat food and toys, so if I needed to, my reaction to dodge would be dramatically hindered. It was a good thing that Yanay wasn't violent, even though she would have been semi-capable of taking me on in a fistfight. Though her glares may have been menacing, I didn't falter. I don't regret what I did, and she should have been counting her lucky stars that she had a place to brood and sulk all she wanted. All things considered, she should be _thanking _me.

But instead of mentioning any of that I said, "Are you going to move anytime soon?"

"You took my car!" she cried, ignoring my question.

"Really?" I deadpanned my reply. "So you mean to tell me that the car I was driving that used the same key as the one I took right out of your pocket is _your _car? No way—plot twist!"

She didn't look amused. "Shyanne!"

"Yanay!"

She started to grunt and whine in a soprano. I rolled my eyes and shoved my way past her. She could whine and moan all day; I wasn't going to apologize.

I had set down the first set of bags on the table when I felt a slap against my back. It wasn't a very hard slap—where it would leave a bruise—but it did sting. I looked over at Yanay and only saw her back as she stomped to her room, slamming the door behind her. I swear, I sometimes I had to wonder whether she was actually 21-years-old or two. I noticed the few cats that were watching the debacle and shrugged at them, before bringing in the rest of the bags.

XIII

I had just finished setting up the second pet-feeder when a certain white cat started clawing at my pant leg. I looked down at him, unfazed by his attempts of physically harming my pants. After about a minute of just watching him scratch and bite at my jeans, I picked him up by the scruff of his neck again. It wasn't until I had brought him close to my face that I had to drop him. Lord, did he smell awful—_sweet mother of lavender_. I needed to give these cats a bath, ASAP, before they developed a zombie virus.

I jogged to my bathroom and turned on the light. I looked around the porcelain and ceramic palace until I found the monkey wrench I used for the shower faucet. The knob broke off a long time ago, before I lived in the flat even, and the previous residents were kind enough to leave the wrench behind as a replacement knob. I fixed the wrench's head around the narrow, protruding metal stem and rotated it until warm water flowed from the bath faucet. I let it fill about one-third of the tub before pulling the wrench back, stopping the water. I looked around again and gathered some clean towels around the tub before going after the cats.

Gathering the felines proved to be much more problematic than they were worth. I dropped the last one inside the bathroom, slamming the door closed before any of them could try to escape (again). By this time all of the cats were trying to claw viciously at my legs. I guess they were pretty upset. Ignoring them, I trekked my way to the tub and sat on the edge, overlooking both the pool of water to my right and the hissing pile of fur to my left.

I grabbed the nearest cat—which happened to be the bond cat from earlier that morning—and was about to set him in the water when he gave a ear-piercing screech and leaped off my arm, leaving a myriad of cuts on my exposed arms in his wake.

"Ah—_fuck_!" I hissed, waving my arm in the air in an attempt in cooling down the stinging pain on my arms. I looked down at the angry cats and only then realized that dumping them in any pool of water after they had just been rescued from a raging lake wasn't the best idea.

I sighed, grabbed a nearby towel and soaked it in the water. This had to be a temporary method until they were okay with water—if they ever would, that was. I was slow and cautious with my next movements as I slowly reached for the brown and orange-speckled cat. I left my hand out-stretched before him and watched as he sniffed my fingers and slowly got close enough for me to pick him up. With him on my lap, I lathered some cat shampoo onto the damp towel until suds were covering the majority of the cloth. Slowly and carefully, I ran the wet towel along the cat's body, scrubbing firmer once I saw that he was okay with what I was doing.

After scrubbing every possible place I could, I reached for another towel and soaked it in the tub, but didn't lather any shampoo on it. I wrung it a bit before running it along the brown cat's body, "rinsing" him. After that was done, and most of the bubbles and soap wiped away, I got a third towel and dried him.

"What a good boy!" I exclaimed, bringing the _clean _and patient brown-and-orange cat close to my face to plant a big smooch on his forehead. I placed him down and snorted, amused as he sauntered back toward the group, the rest of the cats giving him an array of reactions.

I repeated the cleaning process until every one of them were bathed, and only giving smooches to those who were good and patient (whether they wanted it or not). Of course, there were a few complications of rough-housing and impatient temperaments, but that was to be expected. I smooched the large blue cat, the last of them to be bathed, and set him down before sighing, content that I had finally finished. I stood up and opened the door, letting the lot to roam around the apartment while I cleaned the bathroom. I dumped the towels into the clothes hamper and drained the tub, then walked out, switching the lights off before I closed the door.

I walked into my room to see Yanay sitting on my bed, holding the blond cat close to her face, glaring at him with what seemed to be deep and aggressive concentration. I approached cautiously until my knees bumped the edge of the futon. I reached out and shook my friend's shoulder, startling her out of her daze.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked her, making myself cozy on the bed, leaning on the wall with a pillow placed behind my back.

Yanay scooted backwards until she was leaning against the wall with me. "I was trying to figure out a name for him," she answered, holding up the cat in question.

"Names?" I groaned. "I was hoping I could just leave them nameless."

"Shyanne, you can't just have pets with _no names_!" she retorted.

"Why not? There's _ten _of these fuckers! I'd rather not make the effort of giving them names they won't respond to."

"How do you know they won't respond?"

I looked at her dead in the eye, as if she had asked to have me grow a second head. "They're _cats_, Yanay."

She rolled her eyes and returned her gaze to the blond fur ball on her lap. "Blawndie!" she exclaimed, proud.

"... Blondie?" I repeated following up with a sigh. "Really?"

"No. Bl-_aw_-ndie. You have to put the emphasis on the 'aw'."

I sighed, giving up. "Fine, Whatever. Name them whatever the hell you want, but I'm not moving to get the fuckers."

"You don't have to, I'll bring them all here!" Yanay said, jumping off the bed and running to the living room where the rest of the cats were loitering. "C'mere, lovelies!" I heard her call. "Oh-OW! Stop! I'm trying to name you! Ga-HAH Gotcha, bitch!"

Minutes later, Yanay came stumbling back into the room, fighting the cats that were in her arms and those she stuffed in her shirt. It looked as though none of them were escaping any time soon. She trekked her way across the room and let herself fall onto the bed, letting loose the imprisoned felines. Once they were out of her grasp, Yanay ran to the door and closed it, ultimately trapping the cats.

"You fuckers are getting names, whether you like it or not!" Yanay declared, cackling menacingly.

"Sit down, you psychopath," I said. "and pick up your next victim while you're at it."

She laughed, picked the cat nearest to her and sat next to me. The cat she had chosen was no other than the vicious white cat. He fought, hissed and scratched, trying to escape from Yanay's clutches. It was my turn to cackle. _Oh, this is delightful_, I thought, reaching out and taking the unruly feline from my friend's hands.

I held him from under his arms and raised him above my head. "Mr. Tinkles," I declared, immediately dropping him on the floor, making my decision final.

I turned back to Yanay to see her in a fit of giggles. I chuckled with her, giving the retreating cat the Bird. Yanay laughed harder, bending over the edge to grab another cat. She picked up the orange and black-spotted cat that sat with the small, lavender cat in the kitchen earlier that morning. "Chief," Yanay announced after a minute of thinking.

I nodded in agreement. "He does have this authoritative air about him."

After he was given his name, I gently placed Chief on the ground to regroup with the others. I saw the orange-brown cat walk up to my lowered hand, looking for attention. I grinned and picked him up so he could be named next. I placed him on my lap and stroked his head while I thought.

"Mu," I said.

"Mu?"

"Yeah, like the Greek symbol: μ."

"...What?"

I shook my head. "Forget it."

"Right, whatever, nerd," she replied, reach over the edge again, fishing up another cat.

I didn't put Mu down with the others since he seemed content being on my lap. The cat Yanay had now was lavender with white patches on her back and right ear, and the only female in the group.

"It's a miracle she's not pregnant," I commented, gently scratching behind the cat's ear.

"Yeah, I know," Yanay said. "What should we name her?"

We sat in silence. Naming her a bit difficult since she was the only girl and didn't want to give her a joke name. We wanted something unique, or at least something fitting. A name popped in my head that would fit this quiet feline.

"What about just 'Lovely'?"

Yanay contemplated this and nodded. "It fits."

"Lovely it is," I declared, letting Lovely jump down herself.

One of the biggest of the group, and the bluest, then leaped on the bed. Yanay and I looked at each other and shrugged. We didn't know whether we should have been amused or rolling our eyes. _Looks like someone wants their initiation over and done with, _I thought, grabbing the bulk of blue fur.

"_Someone's _in a hurry," I said.

"What should we name him?" Yanay asked, a conniving smile on her face.

"Hmm..." I drew out. "I...don't...kno-o-o-ow..."

The cat started to fidget and Yanay and I held him down nonchalantly while we looked up at the ceiling, feigning a distant look, "coming up" with a name. After playing that out for about three minutes, I chuckled and handed the cat to Yanay. "Just name him before he starts attacking us."

She laughed with me and took the cat. "Alright, alright," she have him a hard look. "Blu. B-L-U, because was are _obviously _in too much of a hurry to deal with silent 'E's."

She gave the cat a sassy smile before setting him down and suddenly yawning. I've noticed my friend get gradually more lethargic as time—and cat—passed. I asked her about this and her answer was since the weird hurricane started she wasn't able to sleep at all and she's been running on coffee and energy drinks for the past week and it was only then that it was all catching up to her. I told her that since the hurricane was over, she should sleep.

"No, no. We have to finish naming them," she protested, gesturing to the rest of the cats.

I shook my head. "I'll do that. You sleep before you pass out."

I looked at her stubbornly and she stopped whining and got under the blankets, but she didn't lay her head on the pillow, instead she laid on my lap. She bargained that she would sleep only if I played with her hair. I sighed and rolled my eyes, agreeing to her terms, running my hand along her head. As I did this, I looked at the rest of the cats that were nameless. "Who's next?"

Surprisingly, the rest of the cats were compliant and jumped onto the bed and came up to me themselves. I shrugged off my initial shock and nodded in my head as if some plan I had concocted beforehand was going smoothly. I reached out to the nearest cat with my free hand. The next cat was patterned like a zebra with a pale green patch on his head, though one side was much more abundant in black stripes than the other. I placed him next to Mu and stared into his bright yellow eyes while I figured out a name for him. I gave him the name "Halfy", despite how it sounded, and set him on the ground.

After that, the next cat came sauntering onto my lap, waiting to get it over with. This one was a lot simpler in design, compared to his companions. He was just small and red. That was it—small and red. Petite and flaming. Mini and chestnut. Humble and scarlet. Pint-sized and cherry. Meager and crimson. Miniscule and maroon. Little and carmine.

"Carmine," I said, liking the sound of it. I nodded in affirmation to myself before putting Carmine with the rest.

The next one came up. He was as simple as Carmine: small and black. His long black hair had him resemble slick, black oil in my mind. At that thought, I nodded to myself again, coming up with the name "Slick". With that, Slick jumped off the bed himself. I looked at the last cat to be named. He seemed not to be bothered with the thought of coming up himself, and I didn't blame him. He was a large brown tabby with thin, black stripes along his body and big, pale-green eyes.

I leaned my head against the wall behind me and looked up at the ceiling, trying to come up with a name. For that last one, trying to get this process over and done with, I blew the rest of my mental energy on my creative and over-elaborate mind. It didn't help much. A minute passed and I could feel the impatience emanating from the final cat and myself.

Finally, I pointed at the cat and dubbed him, "Sigma." To explain the mental process behind this decision, I had looked down at Mu on my lap and just branched off from there—Alpha, Omega, Iota, etc—until I found one that sounded good.

Sigma seemed satisfied with his name and just fell asleep at his spot on the bed. With one final run of my fingers through her hair, I shifted my unconscious sack of a friend to the opposite side of the bed. I put the sleeping Mu on the empty pillow space that would be above my head if I were to lay down. I got up from the bed to brush my teeth and turn off the light. I opened my door to let some of the cats who preferred to sleep in the living room out before settling myself into the bed and fell asleep.

* * *

_Again, S.S. apologizes for the lack of updates in the past year. She will be working on updating regularly. All she needs is time and patience, as she also needs to be job hunting._

_Sincerely, _

_Thirteen Thorns_


End file.
